Spectacled Eider - Ross Feldner

This uniquely colored large sea duck lives at the outer edges of the United States on the coasts of Alaska. It gets its name from the unmistakable large circular white eye patches on both male and females although the female’s “spectacles” are paler.

Their territory is so remote that their wintering grounds in the Bering Sea were not known until 1995 with the use of satellite telemetry.

Spectacled Eiders are diving ducks that can dive to depths of up to 250 feet, feeding on mollusks at sea and crustaceans, aquatic insects and plants on their breeding grounds.

Factors that threaten Spectacled Eiders include climate change and habitat loss. Because they live in frigid areas that are not easily accessible to humans their main habitat loss has been a result of climate change. Future threats to their habitat is the possible development of oil and gas drilling near Teshekpuk Lake which is a globally significant bird area. There is currently no effective way to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic sea ice environment.

Climate change and oil and gas development have drastically reduced their habitat range resulting in a 96% population drop in western Alaskan between 1957 and 1992.